In 1965, Len Tyler entered the Army as a Junior Bandsman. By the time he left in 1994, he was the Director of Music of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

Len’s love of music may never have started without Leicestershire’s ‘radical’ music programme, which provided free instruments, music lessons, and weekly coach journeys to children who needed them. Before leaving school at 16, with little knowledge of what he wanted to do, he stumbled across an army information wagon. Little did Len know that the recruiter behind the counter was in-fact a sergeant from the 4th Royal Anglian Band.

As a Junior Bandsman, Len’s first posting to Malta was also his first time abroad, where he married a Maltese girl. When their son was later born with medical complications, Len became the first student on Kneller Hall’s pupil’s course to receive his own quarters – a wonderful three-bedroom house in Hounslow.

Len had an exciting time as part of the ‘Golden 8’, made up of the top eight players on the course. Together, they performed at high profile events like the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. Later in 1992, as Director of Music of the REME, Len would also perform for the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, at the Royal Albert Hall, as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations.

When he was deployed to the First Gulf War, Len worked on helicopter landing sites. Reflecting on his experience of entering a war zone, in this interview Len recalls how musical people often struggle to become military people, however he luckily adapted well.